Day to Day
by Fallen Ark Angel
Summary: Sometimes it's nice when Laxus goes off on jobs and she gets to be alone. Other times, Mira's miserable and just wishes he'd come back home. - Miraxus Week Day 6: Storm, One-shot part of the Parenthood series.


Day to Day

"Settle down," Mirajane sighed as she continued to stand over by the stove, stirring something in the pot. "You're bothering Master."

She was speaking to her two sons who were both playing with the elder's toy cars, rolling them around on the tile floor as their faithful dog laid by watching with disinterest.

"They're not bothering me, dear," Makarov assured his granddaughter-in-law as he sat at the kitchen table, going over some letters to the guildhall. He had Mirajane bring them home with her after her shift at the bar up there, as he was making the journey less and less. It was about time to pass the torch as it were, but he was still holding out for a few more weeks.

"Yeah, Mommy," Nate insisted as he purposely rolled a car into the poor doggy's belly. He was just as disinterested in that and only rolled over. "Gramps likes for us to play."

Pike, Nate's younger brother, was having far too good a time at that point licking his car to care much about any sort of instruction. Seeing this, Nate immediately began to do that annoying thing where he insisted that you were not, under any circumstance, allowed to lick toys which was just silly. There were plenty of situations. All ones of which Pike had many dealings with.

"Mommy," the older boy complained. "He's doing it again."

"Pike," Mira groaned, glancing over thee. "What have we said about- No. No tears. You know better than to chew on Nathan's toys.'

"Not chewin'," he whined as Nathan only came over to snatch the spit covered toy from his clutches. "I not chewin'! Mommy!"

And he wasn't. He was just licking. Incessantly. Because he was four. And it was just what he did. So there.

Mirajane only groaned some more, glancing over her shoulder. It had been a long two weeks without her husband, as he was off on some big S-Class job, but that didn't matter to her two boys. Not in the slightest. It didn't help anything, either, that they were trapped inside that day due to a huge storm that had rolled in early that morning. Dreyars, as Laxus put it, were not meant to be kept in doors for extended periods of time. Factor in the nasty sore throat that her youngest had been suffering through for the past three days and was still a bit sickly, well, it just didn't spell for a great day.

Not to mention she was tired. No, honestly, no need to mention it. That was a constant problem and she'd more or less given up on feeling differently.

"Now, boy, you aren't trying to cause problems for your mother, are you?" Makarov spoke up from the kitchen table. "Hmmm?"

"No!" Sobbing still, Pike pushed up to go run to his great-grandfather. The man was the only one that ever truly understood him. Oh, and the doggy did too, but he was sorta busy trying to sleep at that moment, so Makarov it was. "Gramps!"

"Come here," the man sighed, allowing his youngest grandchild to clamber on up into his lap. "It's alright."

Mira only hummed over by the stove because, really, she and Laxus had been attempting to work with Pike on such outbursts and temper-tantrums. He was starting to get too old for such things and, honestly, Laxus was growing thin on patience towards them. He'd been much the same towards Nathan and actually had a lot more leniency towards his youngest, but still, enough was enough.

Not that Master Makarov could be told that. Oh no. He thought that they all picked on Pike and that the boy needed him for protection. Which, honestly, was what Pike sold to him anyhow, constantly whining about as much. He just loved his Gramps so much.

Still though, Makarov did not subscribe to that plan at all. He'd been rather harsh on Ivan when he was growing up. His great-grandsons, however, Makarov had no room for such abrasiveness. They were his world, Nathan and Pike, just as their father had been before them.

"Gramps." Pike sniffled. "I no chewin'."

"I know, boy," the man sighed, shifting the child in his lap so that he could get back to his work. "I know."

Nathan glared over at his brother for a moment, as Gramps was most definitely his first, but decided to let it go. At least it kept the little boy from playing with his toys. That got on his nerves more than anything.

Suddenly, there was a sharp knock at the front door, accompanied by the ringing of the doorbell. With a loud sigh, Mirajane turned down the stove before heading to go answer it. Nathan and Pike, excited at the thought of there being someone there for some reason, both rushed from where they were to beat her there.

"Hold on, Nate," Mira sighed as he reached out to open the door. "You know better than to open it if I'm not-"

"It's us," they all heard the very distinct voice of Lisanna on the other side. "And it's sorta raining, Mira, so-"

"I'm right here," her older sister sighed as she finally made it, much to the excitement of her two sons. Pulling open the door, she found her sister, of course, as well as Bickslow, his five babies, and the boys' cousin Mace standing there. Mace and Lisanna were in raincoats while Bickslow was in his usual getup, though from the umbrella in Lisanna's hands, Mirajane figured he didn't get too wet.

"Hi!" Mace bounced slightly, the water on his red raincoat shaking off. "Nate! Pike!"

"Come in, come in," Mirajane said, ushering them to do so. Mace rushed right through the door, rubber rain boots squeaking and getting water everywhere. Bickslow and Lisanna, however, didn't move to do so.

"We were on the way to the hall," Bickslow explained. "When Elfman and Ever came by with Mace. They said that they were both training today and that they needed someone to watch him. Which I readily agreed to because I'm a good person-"

"I have," Lisanna complained, "work today. And you know that you're not allowed to watch him alone. If you had woken me up, I would have told you this. Or if you had just remembered that I'd already told you I was working the night before-"

"Oy," he complained, all five babies mimicking this. "I knew you were."

"Then why-"

"'cause I wanted to watch him. Alone. Prove myself."

Lisanna rolled her eyes. "Last time you got to watch the kids alone-"

"You preform one trick where you teach a kid to jump from building to building and you guys freak out. Pitiful."

Mira, uncharacteristically unimpressed with her sister and her boyfriend, only said, "Either come in or leave, guys. I have lunch on the stove."

"We're leavin'," Bickslow complained as Lisanna only waved at all three boys. "You're so pushy, Mrs. Boss."

It was once she got the door shut that Mirajane turned to address the boys. Only, they were no longer there. Mace's raincoat and boots were, as he'd thrown them off in a rush, but he and his cousins were long gone, no doubt back in the kitchen, bothering Master some more. It beat being under her feet, however, as she only moved to gather the rain gear before going off to fetch a towel, to mop up the puddle her nephew had left behind.

When she finally got back into the kitchen, Nate and Mace were talking loudly about something to do with the former's father as he was, well, more or less the coolest person ever to them, while Pike was in Makarov's lap, snuggled up while watching the man read over the letters.

"Have you had lunch yet, Mace?" Mirajane asked him with a slight hum, trying to force herself into becoming more upbeat. It wasn't easy. She missed Laxus, as she typically did, but also felt rather dreary recently. Their move had gone alright and, while they weren't exactly in the best place money wise, they'd been worse off. And with Master living with them, the budget was pushed a bit further in some ways, but again, not too horribly. The man did have his own income of course and chipped in where he could.

Things were actually settling quite nicely. The only downside to the whole thing was that her husband was having to take more jobs. S-Class ones, specifically, which were rather scarce recently. It was a battle between the slayer and Titania at times over who claimed a job first. Considering his wife handled most of the requests those days, however, it was rather one-sided. Laxus didn't like to be away from home so often, of course, but they'd begun planning for a third child and, well, the more jewels accumulated before that day came the better. He never wanted his children to wonder where there next meal was coming from or have to rely on the kindness of strangers. And he certain wished to keep them from joining a guild at such a young age, as he and his wife had, in order to help support the family. He wanted them to have normal lives. Above all else, he just wanted his boys to be well taken care of.

Mirajane did too, of course, and saw the merits in planning as far ahead as possible. It just didn't help take the sting of him leaving for a month or more away. She was a rather cheerful person, but it was not by any means by nature. She was at her roots rather dark and depressive. It was only the supposed death of Lisanna that forced her to change her image. Though it was well cultivated, it didn't take much for sparks of that old persona to pop up.

"Yes," Mace was saying then, snapping her out of her reflection. Grinning softly over at him, she only went back to the stove.

"I'm sure it won't hurt you to have a little something, huh?" she said, making him giggle. "That way you'll get big and strong like your daddy."

This made Mace happy, but Nate only pushed his car around, mumbling under his breath that his daddy was way better than stinkin' Uncle Elf. It was just a fact.

Only after she had the boys and Master sat down to lunch did Mirajane get a moment to herself. Well, sort of. There was a break in the rain and the dog was in desperate need of a walk. Before, back at the apartment and even before that, when she had the tiny house she'd given to Elfman and Evergreen, the dog had always just run free. He was, after all, a stray by all considerations. Feral. It was only in his old age that this didn't work out so well. And in a new location, well, Mirajane typically just didn't like to risk it. She didn't know the neighbors well either or how they would react to the giant mutt running around.

Slipping on a warn coat, Mirajane leashed the beast before taking him for a quick walk around the block. He was most pleased with this, as well as the goodbye pets that the three little boys gave him. He loved his boys. Even Mace. They were his favorite people.

Next to Mirajane, of course. No matter what Laxus said, the canine was no idiot; he knew who it was that filled his food bowl and protected him from punishment when he (accidentally) ate one of the slayer's shirts.

What the she-demon had not accounted for, however, was the fact that the dog was so up there in years that a walk around a simple block could take forever. With very little warning, the sky opened up with a thunderous roar and, well, there she was, trapped out in a storm, watching her dog struggle to even lift his leg.

The sun didn't shine on a dog every day, she knew, but she sure wished that it did that one on that specific day.

There was a race then, back to the house, but no one was the winner. Not the poor pooch who had his peaceful walk interrupted, and definitely not Mirajane, who got soaked and never once thought to just transform into a raincoat which she definitely should have worn. Why hadn't she worn it?

"Master," she called out once she made it back home, the mutt unceremoniously shaking his filthy body and spewing water every which way. "I'm going to go catch a quick shower, okay? Can you watch the boys for a bit longer?"

There was laughter going on in the other room, from the boys, as they overly enjoyed themselves with the man. Mace didn't have a grandfather, really, or anyone outside of his mother, father, and aunts, but Makarov was sure a nice inclusion that he would have been sure to add if anyone ever asked.

"Of course, dear," he volleyed back as Mirajane thanked herself for having a lapse of judgement and leaving that wet towel from cleaning up after Mace there on the floor. Using it then to wipe down the dog, she gave him a kiss on his smelly head because she just loved him, before heading off to her bathroom to get out of those wet clothes.

It felt nice sometimes, to not have to wear dresses or even put on makeup. Her boys didn't care and Master definitely wouldn't comment if he did. When Laxus was home, Mirajane typically tried to at least put on something nice and dab on a bit of blush or something, but when he was gone, so was the effort.

She made her shower quick, as she knew that, for one, the Master had to get back to those papers, and, for two, because watching all three boys, while fun, could tire the man out rather quickly. He would rarely admit this, of course, but Mirajane could just tell.

"Mmmm," she hummed as she stepped out of the steamy shower only to wrap a towel around her body. Just washing off had relieved some of her tension. She could hear the boys though, out in the kitchen still no doubt, loudly talking and goofing off.

The Master was good at that, keeping them all getting along. Nate and Pike spent nearly every day together, as most brothers their age, and Mace was very frequently thrown into the mix as well. So much so that, upon moving, they got Nate bunk beds, so that his cousin had his own space when he so often spent the night. This was a recipe for disaster at times, as Nate was not the easiest kid to get along with. For as loving as he was towards Mirajane, he had a big problem with sharing and it sprung its head at the most inconvenient of times.

Not that Mace was a saint. Oh, no. And not Pike either. They all got on one another's nerves at some points, as young children frequently did, but that was to be expected. It was not like their parents were the most level headed people in the world (Mace's in particular). There were bound to be some conflicts. Perfect relationships, after all, so infrequently existed.

Heading over to the vanity, Mirajane took to wiping off the mirror with her palm, as to see at least some of her reflection. She liked the way that her bangs hung when wet (mainly because Laxus thought it was so sexy) and was grinning at that when, suddenly, the door just began to open.

Now, back at the apartment, as the boys grew up there and space was so scarce, there had been few restrictions. Nate and Pike basically had free reign of the apartment. And though that was still true with the house for the most part, Mira had made it very clear that the one place she wanted for herself was her bathroom. The boys were beginning to get older, as well, and really no longer even needed her to bathe them. Pike she still supervised, but Nate took care of that all on his own (with loads of prompting, of course). It just wasn't appropriate anymore for Mira to change around them, she felt, or bathe with them and, well, heck; she just wanted some damn privacy some times. Was that too much to ask?

"I'm in here," she called out, annoyance quickly returning to her tone.

"I know," came the response. "That's why I'm comin' in, genius."

Mira frowned too, at the sound of her husband's voice. It hit her suddenly, the realization that it hadn't just been Master's magic she'd been sensing. If she'd paid attention, she would have caught the large jump in it that had occurred, but she was so lost in her thoughts that she had just reasoned it away. There he was, however, her slayer, soaked himself. Given the look on his face, however, she figured that he wasn't too concerned with that.

"Laxus," she grinned, just like that, as he only came further into the room. "You got back."

"Mmmhmm." He was over to her in seconds. "Of course I did."

And he was reaching out for her, but not for a hug like she wanted. His hands were on her waist and he was lifting her. The cool surface of counter top shocked her for a moment, as Laxus knocked away the towel rather quickly, it dropping to the floor as he dropped her there. Wiggling out of instinct, she only stared up at hi with wide eyes, never too shy about her body. Especially not with him.

It wasn't the time for that, of course, because the boys were there, with Master, who she desperately needed to relieve, but Mira could pretend, if only for a moment, couldn't she? Did she not deserve it?

"You got wet," she observed softly, reaching out to gently stroke some of his blond, wet locks. Laxus' eyes were locked with hers, not wavering in the slightest. "Dragon."

"So did you," he mimicked back, right down to gently tugging at her downed bangs, almost absently. "Demon."

Breathing out a half giggle, she only said, "I missed you."

"I missed you too." Finally, the intensity was lost as Laxus could only stare into those blue eyes for so long before breaking. Grinning, if not just smirking, he added, "Mirajane."

She felt giddy for the first time that day, though that might have just been the exhaustion making her delirious. Pike had kept her up for the past few nights with his sore throat and, factoring all the other day to day dealings with the kids and the bar that she still had to run, it just added up to a very tired demon.

Laxus was rather fatigued as well, from a strenuous job that he just wanted to put behind him. The best way to accomplish that was through the demon and also his favorite. Reaching a hand out, he gently stroked her cheek and Mirajane hated herself for wasting so much time and not at least attempting some makeup. Still, she leaned into his touch and it was more than enough go ahead for Laxus to-

"Daddy, are you comin'? You said you'd play firemen with us!"

He stopped too, at the sound of Nathan out in the bedroom, only the closed bathroom door between them. He knew his boundaries. The man only bowed his head with a sigh as Mirajane reached her own hand out, to gently run a thumb over his lips.

"Making promises already, Dreyar?"

"They made me," he grumbled softly. "Else they wouldn't let me come check on you."

"Daddy," Nate started to complain once more.

"He's coming, baby," Mirajane called back through the door, gently pushing her husband from her. "He just needs a shower first."

"But-"

"I'll play with you boys until he finishes though," she was quick to add as Laxus frowned, no doubt hoping that maybe that shower could turn into something more. And it could, but Mira clearly wasn't going to be involved. "Just give me a minute, huh?"

Nate didn't want to, as that was obvious. He was wise to his father's tricks, but Mirajane? She had none. Other than that one where she somehow conned him into eating broccoli (she always swore that she'd seasoned it just right so it would taste like candy, but that was almost always a lie; Nate wasn't so sure he'd believe her next time). Mostly though, she was very truthful with her boys.

"Okay," he called out hesitantly. "But you gotta play firemen our way."

Mira wasn't sure what that meant or if she should look into whether or not their house was covered by fire insurance, but figured that they'd jump that hurdle when they got to it. Leaning up to press a tender kiss against her husband's lips, she just as quickly was mumbling against them, "Tonight."

He wasn't so certain, as when the boys and Gramps were both around, Mira was rare to give anything up, no matter how mouse like he swore to be. Still, he wouldn't argue with her and only leaned down to gently rub his forehead against hers.

"Tonight," he agreed as she slipped away, over to where she'd left her clothes that she was gonna slip on. For a lazy rest of the day, she'd picked out some sweats and a t-shirt, which she was regretting with Laxus standing there, but it had been so long that she had a feeling he wouldn't be too picky. He'd just be glad that they were able to be around one another once more.

"Love you," she told him as she quickly exited, just as he was beginning to strip, preparing for his shower. Not to mention the very tedious job of playing firemen even though he was dog tired and had a touch of motion sickness from train travel. "Dragon."

"Love you," he yawned back, glancing over his shoulder to watch her leave. "Demon."

And as she headed through their adjoining bedroom, off to let Master get back to work and to play with the boys, Mirajane couldn't help but to smile at the sound of it then, the rolling thunder outside. As horrible as it could be sometimes, at least it always brought her dragon back to her.


End file.
